The Spicy Taro Ramen being prepared at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

The Spicy Taro Ramen being prepared at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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The Spicy Taro Ramen being prepared at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

The Spicy Taro Ramen being prepared at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

Image 4 of 13

The Kabocha-Korokke appetizer at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

The Kabocha-Korokke appetizer at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

Image 5 of 13

Okonomiyaki being cooked on the grill at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Okonomiyaki being cooked on the grill at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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The Spicy Taro Ramen being prepared at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

The Spicy Taro Ramen being prepared at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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The exterior of Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

The exterior of Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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Sauce being poured on the Kabocha-Korokke appetizer at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Sauce being poured on the Kabocha-Korokke appetizer at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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People enjoy lunch at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

People enjoy lunch at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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A couple enjoys dinner at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

A couple enjoys dinner at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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The Seafood Yaki Soba at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

The Seafood Yaki Soba at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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Okonomiyaki at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Okonomiyaki at Ramen Taro in Foster City, Calif., is seen on Wednesday, July 12th, 2012.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

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Ramen Taro offers Japanese variety

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The mid-Peninsula is saturated with sushi. Ramen restaurants are everywhere. Even yakitori joints are starting to become ho-hum.

What's left in Japanese cuisine?

Plenty, if you head to the far end of Foster City, to a strip mall on the bay. There Ramen Taro, which, despite its name serves more than ramen, dishes up comfort food, much of it borrowed from China yet stamped with a Japanese sensibility.

There are fried noodle and fried rice dishes, pancakes filled with vegetables and meat - even a Scotch-egg-like creation that employs pumpkin instead of sausage. The dishes are inexpensive, simple and satisfying, the kind of food people in Japan might toss together at home or quickly gulp down at a lunchtime eating place.

As might be expected, Japanese families predominate in the restaurant's small dining room. Simple decor - wood slats on the walls, plus a line of bare lightbulbs with artfully arranged red wiring - help it keep from feeling closed in, as does a bank of mirrors. A Japanese comedy cooking show plays nonstop above the entrance to the kitchen.

Servers are quick and efficient, although they sometimes bring out the food in a sequence Westerners aren't expecting - fried rice before the appetizers, for example. They're happy to explain the dishes, although the menu is fairly self-explanatory.

Probably the least familiar items to those not from Japan are the plate-size pancakes called okonomiyaki. These are akin to frittatas, but with flour and broth included in the egg batter, and more diverse fillings.

The seafood version ($9.95) is filled with squid, shrimp, fish, carrots and onions and topped with a sweetened soy sauce, spiced mayonnaise, ginger and dried bonito flakes. Sliced like a pizza, the dish is light but comforting, the fresh seafood and ginger dominating.

Another lesser-known dish is the satisfying ja ja ramen ($7.95), which could be described as Japanese pasta. A large soup bowl is filled with drained ramen on one side; on the other is a kind of Eastern ragu: fatty shredded pork, mushrooms and onion in a mildly sweet, very spicy sauce. You'll want to toss it all together so the noodles will absorb the heat.

As for regular ramen, the board special of chicken meatball ($8.25) features a light broth, tender meatballs and meaty mushrooms, whose earthy flavor saturates the soup.

Other noodles - udon or soba - get tossed around on the grill. Like chow mein, beef yaki soba ($8.75) includes cabbage, onion and slices of tender beef. It's plain but satisfying; with little flavoring other than soy sauce, the ingredients shine.

But a similar simple dish, pork char-han ($8.25), or pork fried rice, crossed the line into dullness. Its pork, egg, corn and pickled ginger failed to register much reaction on the taste buds.

With so many choices on the menu, you might be inclined to skip the appetizers. Don't. That category offers some of Ramen Toro's best dishes.

One is kabocha-korokke ($7.95), a hard-boiled egg surrounded by mashed pumpkin, rolled in panko and deep-fried. The size of a softball, it could be one person's meal. It's surprisingly light, with a delicious, crisp exterior, and accompanying spicy mayonnaise sauce complements the sweet squash.

While Ramen Taro serves sushi, only the spider roll ($7.95) with its deep-fried soft-shell crab was worth buying; the other rolls - dragon and Golden Gate - were made of fish that seemed somewhat past its prime.

But you can get sushi all over the Peninsula. Head to Ramen Taro for a different kind of Japanese fare.

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